FLASHBACK: Why John Kasich’s Views on Obamacare Disqualify Him from the Presidency

Most times when a politician changes their position on an issue, they excuse and explain it away by saying “they evolved.” Of course, most of the time, a few years have elapsed between this “evolving,” not a few months. Such is not the case for newly announced Republican presidential candidate and Ohio Governor John Kasich, who at one point was popular with the pro-liberty, pro-Constitution Tea Party movement. In fact, Kasich rode the Tea Party wave of 2010 into the Ohio governorship.

During an interview with FOX News‘ Bret Baier in January 2015, Kasich addressed his acceptance of Medicaid expansion as part of Obamacare. He said, “The faith community is a big chunk of the conservative money and the Republican party. Just read Matthew 25. Did you feed the hungry? Did you clothe the naked? If we’re doing things like that, to me, that is conservatism. And you know what? I have the right to define conservatism as much as somebody sitting up in the stands down in Washington trying to tell us what we ought to do.”

In making that statement, Kasich was referring to The Parable of the Sheep and Goats, Matthew 25: 31-46. In this parable, in verse 40, Jesus says, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Kasich’s comments were excoriated by WND’s Joseph Farah who called Kasich out for these views, which were first revealed in 2013, and said, “Jesus wasn’t lobbying Caesar to take care of the poor. He was commanding His followers to do it with their own sacrifices and their own compassion.”

That was not the only time that Kasich perverted Christianity and the teachings of Jesus Christ to use the Holy Bible to defend the growth of government and its taking over of 1/6 of our economy by forcing citizens to purchase health insurance and pay for items and procedures that go against their religious beliefs.

Also in January 2015, Watchdog.org reported on Kasich using the Book of Matthew from the Holy Bible to argue in favor of big government.

During his Pierre, S.D., stop Tuesday, Kasich suggested refusing to expand Medicaid under Obamacare violates God’s will and is costing lives.

“Now, one of the interesting things about this is that people say, ‘That position is liberal.’ Well, I’ve been in the Republican Party for a long time, and a big chunk of the Republican Party is people of faith,” Kasich said.

“Now, if you ever read Matthew 25,” Kasich continued, “I think, ‘I wanna feed the hungry and clothe the naked,’ and I have to tell you — I read a horrible story in The Wall Street Journal on the weekend about people, one man in particular freezing to death over in Montana. And they’ve turned down about half a billion dollars of help, I’m told. That disturbs me.”

At the time, there was only speculation that Kasich was a possible entry into the Republican race for the presidency. By May, the murmurs of his name as a potential candidate had grown even louder. It was at that time that Kasich’s view of Obamacare had a noticeable change.

He went from using the Holy Bible to defend the growth of government through Obamacare and its expansion of Medicaid, which Kasich previously said was the Christian thing to do because Jesus said take care of the poor and sick, though he never said to do so through the force of government, to claiming that he wants full repeal of the overreaching monstrosity.

During an interview on CNN with Jake Tapper in May 2015, just four months after defending Obamacare’s expansion of Medicaid using the Holy Bible and the Words of Christ, Kasich tried to paint himself as a staunch opponent of Obamacare. He claimed, “I don’t support Obamacare. I want to repeal it.”

Kasich added, “But I did expand Medicaid because I was able to bring Ohio money back home to treat the mentally ill, the drug-addicted, and help the working poor get healthcare.”

While Kasich made no mention in that interview of Matthew 25, he still loosely referenced it in his defense of his expansion of Medicaid, which came about because of Obamacare, by saying he did so to help the mentally ill, drug-addicted, and working poor.

Again, distorting the Holy Bible in support of big Daddy government.

If Kasich so much believes that Obamacare was the right thing to do because, in his distorted Christian worldview God commands it, then how are we to now believe that he wants to repeal it?

Did he have a major enlightenment to bring about this supposed evolving or is this just political expediency talking?

About the Author

Jennifer is a Co-Founder of PolitiStick and the Editor-in-Chief. She is a graduate of Texas A&M University and a certified teacher with 12 years experience in the classroom. Jennifer attended what is credited for being the first modern-day Tea Party rally in the country in the Seattle area and from there emerged as a powerful speaker and writer within the movement. While still in Washington State, Jennifer was selected to be a member of the second graduating class of the Jennifer Dunn Leadership Institute (JDLI), a program which identified future conservative leaders.
Jennifer worked as the National Outreach Director for one of the largest conservative groups in the country and served as Managing Editor and writer for what quickly grew to become one of the top 15 conservative sites in the country. She brings to Politistick a passion for the fight for freedom for current and future generations.